Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

Three trends are currently driving the global electricity sector: decarbonization, decentralization and differentiation. Utilities are making significant contributions to mitigate carbon emissions, while a technology revolution is …

Copyright directive

The artist must come first. If he or she goes down, so does a vital part of our cultural heritage. That is why the Copyright Directive is so important.

Last week’s letter (volume 7, issue 4) from Petra Wikström, a consultant for EFPICC, is symptomatic of the tone of hysteria that has crept into the copyright debate. What is particularly worrying is the degree of misinformation that is being fed into the process.

So let’s set the record straight. There is an exception for private copying in the current text of the Copyright Directive. It seems logical to the music industry that this exception for private copying should be kept truly private.

Ms Wikström had suggested in a previous article (‘Copyright battle hots up as MEPs prepare for vote’, volume 7, issue 3) that the music industry wants to prevent a parent making a copy for a child. She is well aware that this is nonsense.

The proposal from IFPI, the organisation representing the music industry world-wide, is that private copying should be limited to a person’s own private circle. That does not prevent a parent from making a copy for a child.

In the same article, she suggested that changes requested by the music industry to the private copying provision of the Copyright Directive would mean that a librarian could be prevented from printing a page from the Internet for a user. Again, this allegation is unfounded.

As Ms Wikström surely knows, there is a special, separate exception taking care of the needs of librarians and library users. This has nothing to do with private copying.

The copyright debate is difficult enough without introducing inaccurate and misleading information into the arena. Instead let’s concentrate on getting the necessary rights for artists that will help European culture to thrive and benefit all consumers.